Steam trap



June 23, 1931. G. F. GERD'rs 1,811,045

sT'EAu TRA? Fiied April e. 192s @ma a Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE GUSTAV F. GERDTS, OF BREMEN, GERMANY Application led April 6,

loss of heat, and in such a manner as to most successfully bar any escape of the steam.

I attain these improvements, for instance, by securely holding to a tapering plug in axial juxtaposition and contacting parallelism a number of impervious bafiie plates and inserting the plug into a straightway.

shell or housing so that the plates are confined in the same. The baflie plates, in the form of thin disks being plain or ungrooved onV one face and having a perforation near the periphery to admit the condensate comprise, on the other face, a substantially pe- 25 ripheral inlet and distributing chamber, a' substantially central outlet and collecting.

chamber, a radial extension of the outlet chamber to connect with the inlet'perforation of the adjacent'plate, and a central perforation for the holding bolt.

The baffle plates, contacting with unlike faces and inlet'perforations 180 apart, thus.

form between themselves two substantially; semicircular sections or groups of labyrin-4 thic channels arranged in parallel adaptedA to act as capillaries, whilst the labyrinths of all of the different baffle plates are in mul- 4 tiple series, constituting devious paths which being constantly lled with the water of condensation bar and entirely prevent any escape of the steam.V

The baiile plates vor steam retaining disks consist of an elastic material of low heat conductivity, whereby loss of heat is reduced to a possible minimum, revaporization of the condensate can not occur and an unrestricted flow of the condensate through the labyrinths is assured, whilst mud and grit are prevented from entering the ducts by a -strain'er but may settle in a chamber 1929. seriai No. 353,154.

provided for that purpose, to be discharged through a by pass controlled by a valve.

By reason of its reduced size andl weight the new trap may be most conveniently inserted in the pipe line at any point within easy reach, like any ordinary straight-way valve, without having to bev supported in any other way.

It requires only ia few minutes time vto take out, clean and replace the plug with the baffle plates and the strainer, the loosening of a single nut being suiicient to remove the plug which is forced to its seat by a hinged lever and a hinged bolt. I A

In describing my improvements reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a section of the steam trap, partly in view. i Y

' Figure 2 shows aA baffle plate in cross section through the middle.

Figure Qa'is a view of the ungrooved face of a baffle plate.

Figure 2b is a view ofthe grooved face of a baffle plate. i e

Referring now to the drawings, w is the shell or housing with admission and discharge openings and also an intermediate opening to receive the taperingv plug Z9 with the holding holt c integral therewith.

The bafile plates orsteamretaining disks (l are held against the inner face of the plug by means of the bolt c, perforated end disk e and wing nut f, whilst the plug is provided with a circumferential passage g vin direct communication with the discharge opening of the trap and also indirectly with the admission opening through passage a' in the plug and the labyrinthic ducts of-ithe baffle plates. y i

Each bale plate has a perforation, as Z, to admit the condensate from the Vend disk e or from the adjacent plate to the substantially peripheral distributing chamber fm, a' substantially central collecting chamber, as n,- limitedly extending radially and diametrically opposite to perforation Z to a pointfacing the inlet perforation of the following adjacent plate, the two chambers m and n being connected by the radial channels o, o."

and the interconnecting substantially concentric channels, as g), which form labyrintlis on opposite sides.

A strainer, as Q, prevents any mud and grit from entering passage of the end disk e but causes the same to settle in the mud chamber r, to be discharged through valve s. A hinged lever, as t, holds the plug I) to its seat by means of the hinged bolt u and the nut o.

The condensate eiitei's the distributing chamber m through the strainer r, the perforation j of the end disk e and the inlet perforation Z of the plate, whence it passes in numerous streams through the radial channels o, 0 and the interconnecting concentric channels 20 into the central collecting chamber a and thence through the radially extending passage a to the inlet perforation of the following adjacent plate or to the passage c' of the plug The condensate, in passing from chamber m to chamber a has its pressure reduced mainly by reason of being divided into a number of streams which imp inge at the numerous intersections of the radial with the concentric chiots and thus make it impossible for the steam to penetrate the labyrinthic duct-s.

The material employed to make the bailleplates elastic and of'low heat conductivity consists mainly lin a mixture of asbestos, rubber, bakelite and an acid-resisting binding substance, the proportions of the different materials, and the pressure at which they are formed into thin, channeled plates to be such as to successfully resist not only the action of saturated but also that of highly super-heated and high pressure steam.

Having thus described my invention, what I claiin'as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

I. In a steam trap having a shell with an admission, a discharge and an intermediate opening, a plug held in the intermediate opening and forming with the shell a steam tight circumferential duct in direct coininunication with the ldischarge opening and communicating with the admission opening through an axial passage leading to the inner face of the plug and through labyrinthic channels formed by and between a plurality of baie plates iinmovably held against the said inner face of the plug in axial juxtaposition and contacting parallelism.

2; In a device of the character described having a shell with an admission, a discharge and anv intermediate opening, the combination with a plug held in and closing the intermediate opening having a circumferential duct in direct communication with the discharge opening and communicating with the admission opening through groups of labyrinthic channels formed by and between a number of centrally perforated baffle plates consisting of an elastic material of low heat conductivity, of a bolt integral with the plug to reach through the central perforations of the plates, a lever hinged to the shell, a bolt hinged to the shell, and a nut, whereby the plug is held to its seat.

3. In a device of the character described having a shell with an admission, a discharge and an intermediate opening, a plug held in and closing the intermediate opening, having a circumferential duct in direct communication with the discharge opening and communicating with the admission chamber through labyrinthic channels formed by and between a number of contacting baffle plates secured to the plug consisting of an elastic material of low heat conductivity with an inlet perforation near the periphery, the plates being ungrooved on one face and comprising on the other face a peripheral distributing chamber, a central collect-ing chamber, radial and iiiterconnecting concentric channels to connect the two chambers, and a radial extension of the collecting chamber to communicate with the inlet perforation of the following adjacent plate. Y

' 4. In a steam trap having a' shell with an admission, a discharge and an intermediate opening, a plug closing the intermediate opening and the inner face of which is provided with an axial passage in unobstructed communication with the discharge opening and communicating with the admission opening through labyrinthic channels formed by and between a plurality of ba'liie pla-tes having square perforations in the center immovably held against the inner face of the plug in axial juxtaposition and contactingV parallelism by means of a square bolt.

5. In a steam trap having a shell with an admission, a discharge and an intermediate opening, a plug closing the intermediate opening and the inner face of which is provided with an axial passage in unobstructed communication with the discharge opening and communicating with the admission opening through labyrinthic channels formed by and between a plurality of baffle plates held against the inner face of the plug, the grooves on one face of each baffle plate forming two semi-circular groups of labyrinthic channels on opposite sides arranged in parallel. i

6. In a steam trap having a shell with an admission, a discharge and an intermediate opening, a plug closing theintermediate opening and from the inner face of which c extends a passage in unobstructed communication with the discharge opening and communicating with the admission opening through labyrinthic channels formed by and between a pluralityv of baffle plates held against the inner face of the plug with their dissimilar faces contacting and the perforation near the periphery of one plate being arranged o from that of the adjacent one.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

GUSTAV F. GERDTS. 

